Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 151: Gone

In the following weeks, the plight of the Black Skull Squad came to be known among the other mercenary teams. After a few teams seeking revenge also disappeared the assignment was bumped up to a gold ranking. The gold rank teams returned empty handed, unable to track down the beast that had caused such problems. It was like it had disappeared without a trace. No one was able to determine whether it had been taken out by someone secretly, or if it had simply hidden itself too well.

A few weeks later this pattern started over again, but in a completely different county. Catching the lower level teams unaware. Many more mercenary squads disappeared before the connection was made and the gold rank teams were sent into action again. Sadly, just as before the beast hid itself again and no one could find it. After being outwitted the first time, many more methods were used to lay traps and arrange an ambush for the beast. Unbeknownst to them, the beasts second appearance in itself was a misdirection.

Lionheart Town in Jade Spirit County, which lay in the complete opposite direction of the beasts second appearance, had itself a new guest. A large portion of the town had a wall around it, with nameplates over the gates. The man who destroyed the old Lang Clan, Jiang Hua, declared that the Lang Clan was to be left there for all time as a warning to evil doers. One of the Lang Clan had killed his brother so he wiped out the whole Lang Clan.

More than a decade later, Jiang Huas orders werent quite followed to the letter. The Lang Clans lands were just too large and valuable to be left alone. After the first ten years had passed, the people got brave. Jiang Hua had never returned in that decade so the people living in Lionheart Town thought he never would. To this end, the city lord enacted a plan to reclaim the area. They built a new wall around just the old Lang Clan Ancestral Hall, the place that still bore Jiang Huas inscription. The area around that burned down Ancestral Hall was large and properly imposing as a monument. It was the size of a single city block, which was really only a small portion of the Lang Clans prior territory.

With the spirit of Jiang Huas orders still intact, everything but the Ancestral Hall and the Lang Clans tomb were auctioned off. The wall that once partitioned the Lang Clans territory was now just a wall that denoted a new district in town, the Lang district. They didnt even change the nameplates over the gates, whether this was out of fear of Jiang Hua or laziness nobody knew. They just added an extra plate with the character for District and called it done.

All of these changes were seen and noted down by a certain being. A little bit later, a huge head poked up out the ground. A large amount of soil had been displaced by the burrowing creature which was now looking up at the entrance to the Lang Clans tomb. Since it was the middle of the night and nobody ever came to this place, there wasnt a soul around to see it. The beast that had caused such a ruckus in a neighboring province was now slithering down the steps into the tomb. Traveling past row after row of urns, each bearing names and deeds. Making its way to the rows of urns where the last of the Lang Clan was laid to rest. Following the tunnel to its end where he ran into a huge stone door.

The door lit up with glowing symbols, sliding open for the beast, letting it head down the thousand steps and entering a room with a set of double doors and a pair of mantis statues. The walls, floor, ceiling, and the doors were utterly packed with array formations, each of them slowly coming to life before these doors swung open as well. The beast slid into the hanger sized room and slithered towards the six daises at the back of the hall, a greedy glint in its eyes. As it slid towards the fourth dais, a great power arose in the room. A fierce presence locked onto the Beast and paused it in its tracks.

Another damned fool.

The beast felt a weight like a mountain smashing down upon it. Hordes of slate grey ants started to crawl and fly out of its body, looking like they were walking out from the gaps between its armor plates. At the same time its weird eyes moved. The articulating eyelids pointed forward, fixing its vertical pupils on that dais. The centers of those narrow lens shaped pupils started to oscillate from side to side. A red outline appeared around the black pupils and a golden light flashed around that red outline, an oddly enchanting lightshow emitted from the beasts eyes.

The voice had come from that dais, specifically from the casket on top of the dais. The beasts strange eyes didnt seem to have any effect as the force upon it only increased. Smashing it down against the floor of the room and pinning the army of ants in place. The beast continued to fight, struggling against the energy surrounding it from all sides. The strange look in its eyes faded, the icy greed already gone, replaced entirely by fear. The presence in the casket didnt even have to manifest any Qi, merely the force of its mind and will weighed down upon the beast, holding it helplessly in place. Not even a drop of the beasts qi could be put into play, helpless in front of that ancient ancestor. After a few minutes of struggling, the beast was utterly defeated, yet there still remained some fight in it. A vindictive glare in its eyes as it pondered how to inflict the most damage upon the thing that would kill it.

Stop giving me that look, you idiot. Youve fallen into madness. Link with this!

The voice from the casket echoed out again, this time carrying a command along with it. It was a force that had to be obeyed, a command that all lesser beings would have to follow. From the shelves behind it a small jar opened and a single tiny sphere flew out of it. The small orb moved closer to the beast, the object was a slightly translucent white with vertical white ribbing like an organic beach ball. It was an insect egg. The beast hesitated, but when the pressure upon it magnified it finally gave in and did as told. A small stream of qi moved from the beast into the egg, harmonizing their energy until they matched perfectly.

Now merge with it.

Again, the order was resisted before the beast was forced into submission. The egg rapidly hatched, a caterpillar climbing out of the egg and growing larger in size. It was huge, for a caterpillar, about the size of a house cat. On the other hand it was minuscule in comparison to the forty foot long beast. A bright light filled the area as the two merged together, the caterpillar and the monster combining in every possible way, mind, body, and soul. With time the process was complete, but it was really just the beginning. The pressure coming from the casket suddenly released, freeing the beast. At the same time, that beast seemed to once again regain its awareness. The murderous glare in its eyes gone and replaced with a great unease.

At least for a few minutes. The beast appeared mostly the same, only gaining a strange striped coloring from the merging, but after a few minutes a great change overcame it. Slithering over towards a wall, it started weaving a nest out of webbing, attaching it to the floor and tossing out strings to connect to the walls and ceiling. Soon enough it was suspended in midair within a giant cocoon. Inside the cocoon it curled up its legs and seemed to be frozen in place. An hour later its whole body started to peel away. Starting from the tail it seemed to shed its whole body, the armored plating, spines, flesh, legs, even the face seemed to slough off, curling up and falling away from it. All that was left was a shiny black pupae, resting within a silk cocoon.